Vilsack likely to take on Steve King

Christie Vilsack, the wife of Agriculture Secretary and former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, is likely to challenge GOP Rep. Steve King, according to several sources familiar with her thinking.

Vilsack has been considering a congressional bid for months, but two Democrats with knowledge of the former Iowa first lady’s planning say she has narrowed her options in recent days, zeroing in on King, an outspoken conservative who is a nationwide favorite of tea party activists.

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Party leaders have given Vilsack their blessing to run against King, with one knowledgeable Democratic source telling POLITICO that Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel told Vilsack last week during a meeting at the committee’s Capitol Hill offices that he would pledge to support her if she challenges the congressman.

An Iowa Democrat familiar with Vilsack’s planning said she is mulling a move to Ames, Iowa, which would place her in the newly drawn 4th district that King occupies.

Dusky Terry, a Vilsack adviser, declined to comment on the former Iowa first lady’s thinking, writing in an e-mail: “Sorry, I do not have any details to provide.”

Vilsack has been open about her interest in running for the House seat. Earlier this year, she stepped down from a nonprofit organization she formed, which is aimed at preventing unplanned pregnancies, to explore a bid. She’s also been huddling with several Democratic operatives to plot a potential campaign, including veteran media consultant John Lapp and Teresa Vilmain, who headed up Hillary Clinton’s 2008 primary campaign in the state.

Vilmain would not comment on Vilsack’s interest in running against King in a brief e-mail exchange on Sunday.

Last week, Vilsack was a featured guest at an annual gala for the Women’s Campaign Forum, an organization that backs female candidates who support abortion rights. Appearing at the event alongside Vilsack was Nevada Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley, who is running for Senate.

Vilsack had been weighing the possibility of running against a Democratic incumbent in a primary — against either Rep. Dave Loebsack or Rep. Leonard Boswell — but waging a campaign against King instead would allow her to rally the party against a lightning-rod conservative and avoid a contentious and potentially bloody intraparty battle.

Vilsack considered challenging Loebsack, a three-term congressman who will run for a newly drawn southeastern Iowa district that includes the Mount Pleasant area where Vilsack has owned a home.

But that plan was resistedby party leaders. During their meeting last week, Israel told Vilsack in no uncertain terms that he would unequivocally back Loebsack should she decide to run against him.

Vilsack is also widely rumored as a potential challenger to Boswell, but in March, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi traveled to Des Moines to appear with Boswell at a fundraiser — a move that was viewed as a signal of her support for the veteran congressman.

The scrutiny surrounding Vilsack’s future comes as Iowa lawmakers finalize a new congressional map that will shrink the state’s House delegation from five seats to four. The Legislature approved a new map last week and sent it to GOP Gov. Terry Branstad, who told local reporters Friday that he will sign the plan into law.